Pressganged!

18 April 2007

A close call was had the other day as Marianna was nearly pressganged by a roving band of musical pirates! They lured her in with charming sea chanties like 'My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean' and 'The Sailor's Alphabet'. Do you know your ABC's?

A is the anchor that holds a bold ship,
B is the bowsprit that often does dip,
C is the capstan on which we do wind, and
D is the davits on which the jolly boat hangs.

For more info on Sea Shanties check out Wikipedia's Sea Shanties. I wasn't surprised at all to see that shanties and military cadence calls are closely related. Could it have anything to do with the mix of military + diver onboard the S/V Mari Hal-O-Jen? One moment we may be singing 'Way, Hay and Up She Rises' and the next moment as a C-130 barrels overhead we just have to sound off with an appropriate cadence:

C-130 rolling down the strip.
Airborne ranger gonna take a little trip.
Mission top secret, destination unknown.
Don't even know if I'm going home.
Stand up, hook up, shuffle to the door.
Jump right out and count to four.